VALDOSTA — As the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce looked back at 2023, the topic of Hurricane Idalia came up several times.
The chamber held its annual banquet Feb. 15 at the Rainwater Conference Center, including the presentation of eight annual awards. The business community’s reaction to the storm at the end of August was praised by several speakers, and it factored into the the presentation of the night’s top award, the A.L. Girardin Outstanding Member Award.
This year the award was shared by Georgia Power and Colquitt EMC, the electricity providers for Lowndes County businesses and residents.
When Hurricane Idalia hit Lowndes County, it knocked out power to tens of thousands of customers. Work crews for both utility providers, as well as emergency crews summoned from outside the area, restored electrical service over the course of weeks.
The award, sponsored by McLane Funeral and Cremation Services, recognized the hard work and contributions of both companies in getting the power back on.
“Thank you for being our guiding lights in the darkness,” said the award presenter, Britt McLane.
“Nobody wants your power on worse than we do,” said Jason Boykin, district engineering superintendent for Colquitt EMC, as he accepted the award on behalf of his company.
Both Boykin and Georgia Power Southwest Regional Director Joe Brownlee praised the linemen who brought an end to the massive outage.
Chamber President Christie Moore also mentioned Hurricane Idalia during her State of the Chamber speech, in which she noted the way the chamber’s member businesses stepped up to help the community in the wake of the storm.
“While many of our members were without power and facing damage of their own, we were overwhelmed by the number of businesses that reached out to see how they could help,” she said.
In addition to the Girardin Outstanding Member Award, other awards presented Thursday included:
— Member’s Choice: Bree’s Creative Learning Center.
— Ambassador of the Year: Shannon Hauser of Country Financial-Shannon Hauser Agency.
— Young Professional of the Year: Chanel Randolph, Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs.
— Most Valuable Employee: Johnny Moran, CJB Industries.
— Nonprofit of the Year: Lowndes Associated Ministries to People, or LAMP.
— Corporation of the Year: Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe, Inc.
— Small Business of the Year: Heart Rize Fitness.